Greek Art

In 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth. But from the depths of despair, Cicero fought his way back. In an effort to cope with his loss, he wrote a consolation speech—not for others, as had always been done, but for himself. And it worked. Cicero's Consolation was something new in literature, equal parts philosophy and motivational speech.

¿Cómo vivir una vida feliz? Hace más de dos mil años, el filósofo griego Epicuro ofreció una respuesta simple: lo único que realmente necesitamos es placer. Hoy tendemos a asociar la palabra «epicúreo» con el exceso indulgente y el simple disfrute de la comida y el vino, pero el hedonismo ligero y la autocomplacencia decadente están a años luz de la vida placentera que perseguían Epicuro y sus seguidores, más preocupados por los placeres mentales y por eludir el dolor incluso en los tiempos difíciles.

Theophrastus' Characters is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real. Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation, Theophrastus' Characters transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble.

Darrow was a professor at Harvard, a prominent theosophist, and the author of numerous works on philosophy. In this piece he examines primarily the Republic, from a theosophical standpoint, in an attempt to show that many scholars have misinterpreted Plato's relationship with the arts. Darrow states that Plato's belief was that the only true art is a life well lived, with the ultimate aim being to create a heaven on Earth.

Epicteto foi um conferencista que não deixou escritos filosóficos. Felizmente, os aspectos principais de sua filosofia foram preservados para as gerações futuras por um de seus dedicados alunos, o historiador Flávio Arriano. Arriano transcreveu meticulosamente em grego um número considerável de palestras de seu mestre para um amigo. Essas palestras, conhecidas como os Discursos [ou Diatribes], foram originalmente reunidas em oito livros, dos quais apenas quatro subsistiram até nossos dias.